This is an opinion piece. Nicholas Paragano is a senior at Mendham who writes for Arts and Entertainment. All opinions expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Patriot.

To say 2020 has been a crazy year would frankly be an understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 200,000 Americans and counting. Police brutality and systemic racism have become front-and-center issues as the Black Lives Matter movement picked up steam after the murder of George Floyd in May. President Trump has severely fumbled the COVID-19 pandemic, has had unmarked federal agents gas and kidnap peaceful protestors, and just this past week, has refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power following the election. Four years of countless lies and corruption from the Trump administration is nothing new. However, the past nine months have made me truly realize how important it is that we defeat him this November, and here’s why. 

President Trump knew the severity of COVID-19 all the way back in March. Recently, audio tapes between the President and investigative reporter Bob Woodward dating back to March 19 have been released. Trump tells Woodward, “To be honest with you, I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.” At this point of time, Trump had been calling the virus everything from a “Democratic hoax” to saying that it’s no more serious than the seasonal flu. He knew the truth about the virus, and chose to lie to the American people to avoid a “panic”. The coronavirus was inevitably going to hit American shores, but it didn’t have to be this bad. If the President had treated the virus seriously as the threat it was all the way back in February and March, then a significant number of needless deaths could have been avoided. Instead of listening to experts such as Dr. Fauci, Trump instead turned to conspiracy and wishful thinking. He said that the virus would go away when the weather got warmer, despite scientific experts saying otherwise. “It’s unclear how this virus is going to act,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist in April. Trump suggesting that ingesting disinfectant products would help fight the virus, even though scientists have said that it is not an effective treatment, and could lead to poisoning and death. Following the President’s comments, there was an uptick in calls to poison control centers. It got so bad that Maryland had to send an emergency alert regarding the ingestion of disinfectants. Many of Trump’s supporters take his word as gospel, and they trust him over the experts. This is dangerous due to his habits of spreading misinformation, such as the importance of wearing a mask. Trump hadn’t been seen wearing one in public until July. On October 2nd, we learned that both him and his wife Melania have tested positive for COVID-19. It’s abundantly clear that President Trump knew the dangers of COVID-19, and chose not to take it seriously, leading to over 200,000 American deaths alone, as well as putting his own health in jeopardy.

When George Floyd was murdered by police in May, several protests of police brutality by the Black Lives Matter movement began all across the country. Although rioting and looting did happen, it has been found that 93% of the protests have been peaceful.Despite this, Trump had sent unidentified federal agents to Portland to arrest protestors with no charges and placed them in unmarked vans. “Apprehending a person by force and holding him or her in captivity without legal authority is the definition of kidnapping,” said Erwin Chermereminksy, a constitutional law expert. Perhaps the most egregious use of police brutality on peaceful protests occurred in June at Lafayette Square in Washington, DC. Trump ordered police and federal agents to clear Lafayette Square of peaceful demonstrators. They did not say why they were clearing the square, and acted with force. The reason? So that Trump could go to St. John’s Church to hold a bible for a campaign photo-op. This really shows where Trump’s priorities are: himself. The terror at Lafayette Square was perhaps the most blatant case of Trump’s disregard to protestors’ freedom of speech and assembly.

Now we get to the most terrifying of Trump’s comments, which inspired me to write this article in the first place. Ever since 1797, when George Washington stepped down from the presidency and John Adams succeeded him, there has been a peaceful transition of power. But for the first time in US history, this sacred tradition may be in jeopardy. When asked about by a reporter about a peaceful transition following the 2020 election, Trump said, “We’re going to see what happens”. He added, “Get rid of the ballots, and you’ll have a very, you’ll have a very peaceful- there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.” This is unprecedented, but not entirely unexpected. For months, since the pandemic began, Trump has been attacking the legitimacy of mail-in-ballots. He has called them “a scam”, and talked about the potential for a large amount of voter fraud. In reality, voter fraud from mail-in ballots is extremely rare. Only 1,200 allegations of voter fraud, with 1,100 convictions have occurred since 2000. Only 204 allegations out 1,200 involved mail-in ballots. The real reason Trump and Republicans are attacking mail-in ballots is because they know Trump is losing. Joe Biden is leading Trump nationally, especially in key swing states. Biden has an 80 in 100 chance of winning the election, according to FiveThirtyEight. Trump is trying everything he can to delegitimize mail-in voting and the results of this election, and we can’t let him.

The past nine months has made it crystal clear to me that President Trump has to go. Joe Biden is far from perfect (he wasn’t my first choice), but he’s our only option to stop Trump. We have to make sure that Trump loses in a landslide, so much so that he can’t try to contest it to the Supreme Court and delay the results even further. This election is a lot more than just Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. It’s Donald Trump vs. Democracy. We must ensure that democracy wins. If you are eligible to vote and haven’t registered yet, please do so at voter.svrs.nj.gov/register